There are a lot of reasons people put off therapy.
Sometimes it’s because life is busy and there never seems to be a good time to start. Sometimes we tell ourselves we should figure things out on our own first. Maybe once work settles down, the relationship gets sorted out, the move is over, or we have a better idea of what is actually going on with us, then we’ll reach out.
There’s also the other side of that.
You may know that you’re struggling, but because your life isn’t completely unmanageable, you wonder if you really “need” therapy. You’re still going to work, taking care of your responsibilities, showing up for the people in your life, and getting through the day. Maybe things are hard, but they don’t feel hard enough to justify asking for help.
Both ways of thinking can leave us in the same place: waiting.
The truth is, therapy doesn’t have to be something you turn to only when things have reached a crisis point. You also don’t need to arrive with everything figured out.
You can come to therapy because you know something feels different, because you’re moving through a transition, because you keep finding yourself in the same patterns, or simply because you want a space to better understand yourself.
Sometimes you know exactly what you want to work on. Sometimes you just know that you don’t want to keep feeling the way you’ve been feeling. Both are valid places to begin.
Therapy can also look different at different points in our lives.
For some people, a few months of support can make a meaningful difference while navigating a particular transition or difficult season. For others, therapy becomes a space they return to as life changes.
There can be something valuable about having someone who knows your story and can understand where you are now in the context of where you’ve been. You don’t have to start from the beginning every time life gets complicated.
And therapy doesn’t have to be reserved for the complicated parts.
There is something really meaningful about having a space where you can talk about the things that are difficult, but also the things that are going well.
The new relationship.
The career change.
Becoming more comfortable with who you are.
Setting a boundary you’ve struggled with for years.
Figuring out what you want next.
Sometimes having someone walk alongside you means having support through the hard parts, and sometimes it means having someone there to recognize the growth and joy with you.
Maybe you’ve been waiting for the right time to start therapy.
Maybe you’ve been waiting until things are bad enough.
Maybe you’ve been waiting until you can explain exactly what you need help with.
But if we wait for everything in life to be “right” before we reach for support, we may find ourselves waiting forever.
We live in the human condition, and being human means that things change.
Our relationships change. Our circumstances change. We change.
There will always be another transition, another question, another season we’re learning how to navigate.
That doesn’t mean something is wrong with us; it means we’re alive and moving through a life that is constantly becoming something new.
Maybe therapy isn’t about waiting until life is finally right.
Maybe it’s about having someone alongside you while life keeps changing, and while you do, too.
Don’t wait until you need help with the change. Let yourself have support through it.
By Izzy Padgett – Graduate Student Intern